Search This Blog

Camelina, anyone?

December 19, 2011 - I'd never heard of the website known as Minyanville (http://www.minyanville.com/) before I read the article I want to discuss today. The article, "Renewable Energy Crop Production Set to Soar in US," was first printed at oilprice.com, with no author's name shown.

Biofuels have suffered from an image problem ever since Bush II prematurely decided they were a good idea, notwithstanding the fact they were made out of food. The resulting starvation in countries accustomed to eating corn (which is actually low in calories, or energy) has been only one side effect of our least intelligent President's passing thought. That's why a crop called camelina will solve multiple problems, not just the shortage of jet fuel.

It's taken awhile to get biofuels up and running because of the lack of USDA federal crop insurance. A wonder crop was needed, one that could withstand assorted growing conditions and still be a moneymaker. A number of crops - including algae - have been tested, and camelina has passed every test, thus far, with flying colors. As a result, investors from all corners of the globe are sitting up and taking note.

Want a crop that can withstand drought? Camelina can do that. What about a crop that will grow on infertile soil? Camelina can do that, too. A short growing season is no problem for camelina, and there is no special equipment required for harvesting this Crop For All Seasons. The silage that remains after harvest can be fed to livestock and poultry, which increases their omega-3 content.

Now that crop insurance is available, thanks to Montana Senator Jon Tester (D), the USDA has given camelina a big thumbs up. Trials are being arranged in 12 states, with virtually all the others waiting in the wings. Says Sam Huttenbauer, president of Great Plains Oil and Exploration, "This is a critical step toward camelina becoming a major U.S. biofuel crop." With camelina filling this role in the overall food and fuel supply picture, fertile soil can once again be freed up for food production.

No one thinks more highly of this development than the U.S. Air Force, which has certified camelina-based biofuel for use in its Globemaster transport aircraft. Certainly it is my hope, as I'm sure it is yours, that biofueuls will be put to use primarily for peaceful purposes. In the meantime, it's good to know American ingenuity is once again at work.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Friends - Today - January 18 - is the day to take action against PIPA/SOPA, two bills being introduced in both houses of Congress that will legalize internet censorship. Go
to senate.gov and house.gov and make your opposition known. Thank you!

March 20, 2017 - Happy Spring, everybody. Today's post will be brief: the ten-year average for number of wildfires during January through mid-March is 8,687 fires that burned 216,894 acres per year in the United States. This year there have been 10,829 fires during that period, burning 2,062,012 acres. You read that right.

April 2, 2017 - The following was sent to me by Credo by email today. Please read and take action:
Stunning new documents unsealed by a federal judge suggest that Monsanto worked directly with federal regulators to hide the health risks of and manipulate the science behind its best-selling herbicide, RoundUp.
The documents reveal that Monsanto pressured Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials to not
publicly release information on the cancer risks of glyphosate, the main ingredient in RoundUp, ghost-
wrote research for the EPA and worked with a senior official at the agency to quash a federal review of
the chemical. These documents suggest an unprecedented level of collusion between the EPA and Monsanto to cover up evidence that RoundUp is a likely carcinogen. The Office of Inspector General of the
EPA, an independent office tasked with investigating fraud and abuse in the agency, must immediately
launch an investigation to hold Monsanto and all EPA employees involved accounta…